Foundry sand conditioning apparatus



Oct. 4, 1938. F. B. HENRY FOUNDRY SAND CONDITIONING APPARATUS 5Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 15, 1935 [NVE/YTOR: Fred B. Henr- Oct. 4, 1938F. B HENRY 2,132,164

FOUNDRY SAND CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 13, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 2Bi -4 3H //v l/EN 7'0 F? Freo 5. Henry,

Oct. 4, 1938. H N 2,132,164

FOUNDRY SAND CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 15, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 3ATT'Y Patented Oct. 4, 1938 UNITED STATES FOUNDRY SAND CONDITIONINGAPPA- RATUS Fred B. Henry, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The J efireyManufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio Application December 13,1935, Serial No. 54,293

15 Claims.

This invention relates to foundry sand conditioning apparatus andparticularly to an aerator which is adapted tocut, blend, aerate andcool foundry sand with improved efiiciency.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved and more efficienttype of foundry sand conditioning apparatus of the general type abovementioned.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved rotor cutteror impeller bar for a sand conditioning apparatus.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novelfeatures and combinations being set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational View of a foundry sand conditioningapparatus comprising my invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the device of Fig. .1;

Fig. .3 is .an enlarged sectional elevational view taken on the line 33of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows and illustratingparticularly the adjustable feed chute for the device;

Fig. 4 is an end elevational View showing the rotor of my improveddevice;

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view'of the rotor of Fig. 4 taken on theline 5-5 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 6 is a sectional elevational view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 4,showing the structure of the rotor cutter bars;

Fig. '7 is a sectional elevational view taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 4,showing the structure of the rotor cutter bars in a slightly differentposition;

Fig. 8 is a side elevational view of a modified form of the apparatuscom-prising my invention in which the sand is fed to a belt conveyor;and

Fig. .9 is an end elevational View of the device of Fig. 8.

This application comprises a continuation in part of my application forFoundry sand conditioning apparatus, Serial No. 747,042, filed October5th, 1934.

The foundry sand conditioning apparatus comprising my invention, whichfor brevity will be hereinafter termed anaerator, comprises a frame 10including a .base ll., made of structural memberssuch as channels whichare riveted together, upon which is adapted to be mounted an electricmotor I 2. The frame also includes upwardly extending angle members l3which support parallelangle members M to form a rotor supportingauxiliary base l5. The angle members I3and l4 may be riveted togetherand reinforced by appropriate gusset plates l6.

Mounted upon the auxiliary base I5 is a hood I! having an open bottom atl8 from which the treated sand is adapted to be discharged. It may bementioned that the open bottom l8 extends the full length of the hoodll; this will be evident by reference to Fig. 2. The hood 'l'l isrigidly attached to the frame Ill and to the auxiliary base !5 and isreinforced by longitudinally extending angle members, one of which isseen at I9. I

The upright side plates of the hood I! are provided with air intakeopenings 20; such side plates may be of a louver type construction. Thehood #1 is provided with a top plate 2| which is 15 curved at one end,as seen at 22, thereby forming a .guide means or deflector to direct thesand to the bottom opening l8, if it does not fall through said openingI8 under the influence of gravity alone. The downwardly curved end 22may be hinged at 23 and provided with an eye 24 adapted to receive alifting cable 25 whereby said curved end 22' may be raised about itshinge 23 to provide ready access to the interior of hood I! where therotor 34 is located. If desired, said curved end 22 may be attachedrigidly to the hood side walls as by nuts and bolts, so as to alwaysremain in vfixed relation to the stationary frame Ill.

At its rear end, the hood I! is provided with .a 30 feed opening 26(Fig. 3) through which foundry sand which is to be conditioned is fed tothe aerator. Below the opening 26 there is provided .a hinged chute 2.1which is attached to the hood 1 .l by hinge 28. A bracket 29 ispivotally attached to the bottom of the chute 21 and carries atransversely extending rod 30 between spaced end pieces of said bracket29, which rod 30 is adapted to .co-operate with any one of a pluralityof slots 3! formed in plates 32 which'are carried ateach v side of thehood I! and within anelongated aperture 33 in said hood l1.

vIt will be-evident that the rod 30 may be selectively placed in any oneof the .slots 3| to adjust the slopeaof the bottom of chute 21. By Iadjusting the slope of saidchuteZl the rate of travel of the sand to theaerator rotor may be adjusted, and the position where it is fed to .saidrotor may likewise be adjusted. For instance, if the sand is wet, a highpitch position 50 should be used whereas .if the sand is .dry a low,pitch position will be better, the high pitch po- I sition being shownin dotted lines in Fig. 3 and the low pitch position in full lines. Thechute bottom decreases the velocity of downward move- :55

ment of the fed-in material as compared with gravity, to assure the.desired impact action by the flights of the rotor rotating in thedirection of the arrow 36.

Positioned within the hood I1 and below the chute 21 and adapted toreceive foundry sand which is fed to the chute 21 and to impelsaid sandlongitudinally of said hood I! along diverging paths, thereby to cut,blend, aerate and cool the foundry sand, I provide a, rotor 34.

Said rotor 34 is adapted to be driven from the motor l2, as through aplurality of V-belts 35,

' to rotate said rotor in the direction of the arrow 36. It will beevident that as material falls from the chute 21, under the influence ofgravity, it will be impelled by the rotor 34 longitudinally of the hoodl1 and fall through the bottom opening l8 thereof into a pile.

The structure of the rotor 34 is a feature of my invention and attentionis directed to- Figs. 4, 5, 6 and 7 which disclose in detail thestructure of said rotor. Said rotor 34 comprises a pair of end castingsor drum brackets 31,31, of sufficient rim weight to act as flywheels,which are mounted upona shaft 38, which shaft is carried upon anglemembers M of the auxiliary base 15 by appropriate anti-frictiondust-proof bearings carried in bearing housings 39, 39.

,. shaft 38 will, of course, be driven by apulley 40 portion of the endcastings 31 and extendingparassociated with the V-belts 35, and the endcast.- ings 3|.will be keyed tosaid shaft 38 to rotate therewith.

. Spaced 90 degrees apart around the peripheral allel to the axis of theshaft- 38 between said endcastings 31, I provide a plurality ofrevolving cutter or impeller barsAl. The cutter bars 4| areremovablyattached to the endplates 31 by appropriate machine screws 42 anda,co-opcrating clamp plate 43, locked and, sealed by means of the wireloopsv42' to prevent the screws from working out of place.

The ends of the cutter bars 4| are preferably squared to provide flatfaces whereby any outter bar may be adjusted in any one of four angularpositions on the rotor 34. The, cutter bars 4| each comprises. a,longitudinally extending body portion, seen at 44 in Figs. 6 and 7, fromwhich extend four ribs, websorflights 45 spaced 90 degrees, apart aboutthe axis'of said bodypor- .tion 44. In, the operation of. the rotor.only one of the ribs, webs or flights 45 will be in operative positionat a time and thus thev wearing surfaces of said bars may be renewedfour times by the simple expedient of removing a cutter. bar 4| androtating it 90 degrees about its axis and relocking it in adjustedposition. It is to be particularly noted that the flights. 45 do notextend in a single plane butcomprise sections 46 which aredisposedat aslight angle with respect to the axis of the cutter bar 4|. As ,bestseenin Fig. 5

.eapacity machines, such as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, itis preferredto employ two Vs end to end so as to treble thecriss-crossing-action of the opposing faces, there being two pair at theend positions and a third pair formed by the extreme end faces. This isparticularly The true when the cover or hood is elevated so high as topermit freedom of the mixing and aerating operation without the use ofthe deflector 22. While the plane of each leading face of each section46 makes an angle of approximately five degrees with the axis of thebody portion 44 of the cutter bars 4| in the drawings, it should beunderstood that the relative angularity of opposing faces may be variedin accordance wit the mixing action desired.

Fig, 4 is a rear view of the rotor assembly or a side view of Fig. 5looking from the left toward the right. The flights 45 are integral withthe bars 4| and the flat faced extensions are clamped to the rims of thefly wheels 31. The bars 4| together with the flights 45 and the saidflat faced extensions may be cast in one piece of metal and theirclamped positions at the peripheries of the 'wheels' 31 render the rotoras a whole an effective fly wheel unit, having not only an impellingaction but also a fan action to assist in the throwing of the granularmaterial in a gen eral horizontaldirection from the top of the rotorwhen driven in thedirection of the arrow 36 shown in Fig. 1. V

In Figs. 8 and 9 I illustrate a somewhat modified form of my inventionor what in fact is an addition to the invention above described. Insteadof discharging the treated sand onto the ground under the curveddeflector 22, as would be the casein the device of Figs. 1 and 2, exceptwhen the hood I! is elevated when it will be discharged into a pileremote from the machine, I may provide av belt type conveyor whichfisadapted to, travel below thehood l1 and to receive the treated sand.This conveyor may com prise a four walled hopper 41 adapted to receivematerial from the hood I! and to guide it to an endless belt 48 adaptedto roll upon idler rollers 49 supported upon a longitudinally extendingframe built up of channel members 50, 50 and carried by brackets 5|, 5|.7

The ,operationofgthe device of Fig. 8 is not altered from that describedin connection with Figs. 1 to 7 when thehood H is down, except for thoseparticulars specifically mentioned, namely, that the conditioned sand isconfined by thehopper 41 to fall onto the belt 48 rather than ontotheground. V

It may also be mentioned that in the device illustrated specifically inFigs. 1 and Z, the bottom of the hood I1 is spaced sufficiently abovethe ground or any frame upon which the base H of the aerator, rests,thatany receptacle may be inserted beneath the opening l8 to catch theconditioned sand as it issues from the hood H.

In the operation of the device, sand will be fed to the aerator throughthe opening 26 and will slide down the chute 21, being discharged overthe end thereof under the influence of gravity. The rotor 34 will rotateat highspeed in the direction of the arrow 36 under the control of themotor l2 The sand particles falling from the chute 21 will fall into thecylindricalpath of the rotating cutter or impeller flights 45,-on the,bars 4| and be struck by the forward or W- shaped leading faces, of thesections '46 thereof. It is'to be particularly noted that due to theangular relation of the sections 46 of the flight 45, the particles ofsand struck by different sections 46 will be impelled longitudinallythrough the hood |1 along diverging angularly disposed paths. As aconsequence, when the sand is impelled or struck by the flights 45, itwill be completely cut,

blended, aerated, tempered and 7 cooled as it discharges from the bottomopening N3 of said aerator. The angular disposition of the sections 46:of the flights 45 forming part of the cutter or impelling bars 41,insures a complete blending and intermixing of the particles of sandtreated by said aeraton It will be understood that by the term out, ismeant the complete mixingof the sand and the breaking up of all largeparticles, while 'blending refers to the mixing of the properproportions of silicon and bond thereby to insure a sand which willprovide a satisfactory mold after the patt'ern is removed. Tom-poring-refers to the proper of the sandwith water, evenly throughout, to sucha degree as to provide a satisfactory mold, as aforesaid, yet without anexcess of water which would result in a generation of an excessiveamount of steam when the mold is poured. I

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in thedetails and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the claims hereto appended, and Itherefore wish not to "be restricted to thepr-ecise construction hereindisclosed. 7

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what Idesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: I

1. In a sand aerator, the combination with a frame, of sand feedingmeans, a rotor carried by said frame and positioned to strike sanddelivered bysaid feeding means, said rotor comprising end supportingmeans mounted on a rotating shaft, a striking bar spaced axially fromsaid shaft and carried at both ends by said supporting means, said'barcomprising a straight body portion having a polygonal cross-section withcontinuous radially projecting longitudinally extending ribs carried byeach face, said ribs having impelling faces providing surfaces at anangle with the axis of the bar, whereby sand struck thereby will travelin angularly related paths, said bar being rotatable about its own axisto :bring successive ribs into operative position :as they :become worn,and mounting means for attaching the ends of said bar to said endsupporting means and constructed and arranged to provide for rotation ofsaid .bar about its own axis as aforesaid and to clamp it rigidly tosaid supporting means in any selected position.

2. A rotor for an aerator comprising a rotary shaft, spaced spiderssecured thereto to rotate therewith, a plurality of straight elongatedbars each having continuous zig-zag cutting and im- -pelling ribs spacedabout the same in spacedapart relation circumferentially, flat-faced.extensions at the ends of said bars, and clamping devices for securingsaid flat-faced extensions about the peripheries of said spaced spidersin adjusted position to locate the ribs of each bar successively inoperative position at the periphery of the rotor.

3. A rotor for an aerator comprising a rotary carrier, an elongatedstraight bar having distributed about the same circumferentially aplurality of cutting and impelling ribs, flat-faced extensions on theends of said bars, and U-shaped clamping devices associated with saidflat-faced extensions for securing said bar to said carrier spaced fromthe axis of rotation of the same and in such adjusted positions as tobring into operative position another rib when one becomes worn.

l. A rotor for anaerator comprising a shaft,

spaced-apart. wheels 'mounted thereon to rotate therewith, a pluralityof straight elongated bars each having distributed'about the same .a-plu-, rality =of -.circumferentially spaced-apart cutting and impellingribs each. continuous from one end of the bar-to the other,-flat-'facedextensions on the ends of said bar, and mechanisms for clamping saidextensions to the inner peripheries of the rims of saidwheels, saidclamping mechanisms each comprising a pair of bolts and :a clampingplate engaging one side of the associated :extensi-on. I

55. A rotor for a sand aerator comprising a shaft, spaced wheelsthereon, an elongated straight bar parallel to the axis of rotation ofthe shaft and spaced therefrom, a plurality of cutting and impellingribs distributed circumferentia'lly about said :bar and each continuousfrom one end of the bar to the other, the ends of the ribs being inradial planes relative to the axis of rotation of the rotor,non-circular extensions at the ends of said bar, and clamping devicesbetween said extensions and the peripheries of said wheels to enable anyone of said ribs to be brought to operative position atthe periphery ofthe rotor. 6. In an aerator for granular material, the combination witha frame, .of feeding means carried by said frame, a rotor positionedbelow said feeding means and provided with peripheral impact elements inangular relation to each other, an open bottomed air chamber having adownwardly extending curved deflector wall horizontally spaced from thetop of the rotor, said chamber branching laterally from said rotor, andmeans for driving said rotor while receiving granular material whichfalls by gravity from said feed-ing means to cause the uppermost impactelements :of the rotor-to strike and throw granular material alongapproximately horizontal intersecting paths into said chamber andagainst said deflector wall to effect aeration and mixing and breakingup of lumps of the granular material. V "7.. In an aerator for granularmaterial, the combination with a frame, of feeding mean-s carriedthereby, a rotor having impact elements disposed in angular relation toform a W in the plane where the material receives the impacts, mech-.anism for supporting said rotor relative to said feeding means to causesaid impact elements to strike the material when it .falls from saidfeeder means when said impact elements are in their uppermost positionsand thereby throw the material tangentially from the rotor alonghorizontal paths extending from the upper side thereof, a hood having anopen bottomed chamber extending horizontally from the rotor in positionfor receiving material in intersecting horizontal paths from the top ofsaid W-tormed impact elements, and a downwardly curved deflector at thatend of said chamber remote from said rotor but in position to be engagedby the horizontally thrown material.

8. In a rotor for granular material, the combination with a frame, of afeeding device having an adjustable inclined chute bottom, a rotor belowsaid feeding device in position to receive said granular material whichfalls from said feeding device by gravity, said rotorhaving impactelements in angular relation to each other and spaced from the axis ofrotation of the rotor for travel along a cylindrical path the uppermostside of which is adjacent to the discharge end of said inclined chutebottom, and means for rotating the rotor in the direction of inclinationof said chute bottom, a hood mounted in position to forma horizontalaerating chamber branching laterally from the top of said rotor forreceiving along'horizontal intersecting paths the material thrown bysaid rotor elements from the top of said cylindrical path in a generalhorizontal direction to secureaeration of the material.

9. In an aerator, the combination with a casing, of an aerating rotorjournaled therein, an open' bottomed hood hinged to said casing inposition to receive the granular material thrown from the top of saidrotor in a general horizontal direction, means for rotating said rotorwith its top moving toward the aerating chamber formed by said hingedhood, and a feed plate positioned to feed materialto be struck by thetop of said rotor.

10. In an aerator for granular material, the combination with amainframe, of an aerating rotor mounted in said frame and constructed toimpel material particles along intersecting paths, feeding mechanismmounted in said frame above said rotor, a hood mounted on said frame toaffordan open bottomed chamber for receiving granular material'from thetop of said rotor, that end wall of said hood remote from said rotorbeing curved downwardly to the open bottom of said hood, a motor mountedon said frame and connected to said rotor to drive the same in suchdirection as to move the top of said rotor 7 wardly curved end wall, anda base frame for supporting said main frame and comprising up- I rightsupportsat the opposite sides of said main frame to afford space undersaid hood for the travel of a conveyo-rbelt in position to receivegranular material from said hood.

11. In an aerator for granular materials, the combination with a mainframe, of a rotor mounted thereon, said rotor comprising a central shaftand end bar carriers, a straight elongated bar carried by saidcarriershaving its axis substantially parallel with the axis of saidcentral shaft and spaced therefrom, said bar having flattened endportions, means cooperating with said'flattened end portions and saidbar carriers to carry said bar inga selected one of a plurality ofpositions, said bar having material impelling ribs on different facesthereof adapted to be brought selectively into working and non-workingposition by rotation of said bar about its longitudinal axis where itmay be'secured by the aforementioned means, said ribs being of nonlinearformation whereby they operate to impel struck material alongintersecting paths thereby aerating and mixing it thoroughly.

.12. In an' aerator for granular material, the combination with a mainframe, of a rotor mounted thereon, said rotor comprising a rotatableframe,a plurality of straight elongated bars rigidly attached attheir ends to said frame and having their longitudinal axis parallelwith but spaced from the axis of rotation of said frame, each of saidbars having end fastening portions, means cooperating with said endfastening portions to fasten the bar ends rigidly with said frame in aselected one of a plurality of positions, said bars each having materialimpelling ribs on different faces thereof adapted to be broughtselectively into working and non-working position by rotation of a barabout its longitudinal axis where it may be secured bythe aforementionedmeans, said ribs being of nonlinear formation wherebythey operate toimpel struck material along non-parallel paths.

'13. A rotor for an aerator comprising a plurality of elongated barseach having a longitudinally extending body and a plurality oflongitudinally extending non-linear ribs spaced apart circumferentiallythereon, a rotatable frame for supporting said bars, clamping endportions on the ends of each bar, and clamping devices associated withsaid end portions for securing the bars to the frame to bring thecircumferentially spaced ribs selectively into operating andnon-operating positions.

14. A rotor for an aerator comprisingia plurality of elongated bars eachhaving a longitudinally extending body and a plurality of longitudinallyextending ribs spacedapart circumferentially thereon, a rotatable framefor supporting said bars, clamping end portions on the ends of each bar,and clamping devices associated with said end portions for securing thebars to the frame to bring the circumferentially spaced ribs selectivelyinto operating and non-operating positions.

15. In an aerator for granular material, the combination with a mainframe, of a rotor mounted thereon,.said rotor' comprising a rotatableframe, a plurality of straight elongated bars rigidly attachedat theirends to said frame and

